Highlighting unread messages

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments enable a video messaging experience which permits the exchange of short video messages in an asynchronous manner. The video messaging experience preserves the video intimacy and experience of synchronous-type video communications, while at the same time provides the convenience of SMS-type message exchange.

BACKGROUND

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications continue to evolveand can provide a desirable and efficient way for parties to communicatewith one another. In particular, VoIP calls that include a video elementin which calling parties see one another can provide an intimate anddesirable experience.

Yet, these types of communications continue to have barriers that affectthe extent to which many users engage them. For example, consider thecase where a video communication is desired using, for example, VoIP.Typically, in order to have such a video communication, contact detailsare exchanged between parties such that each party's contact detailsreside in one another's contact list. Further, both parties in a videocommunication are typically required to be on the line at same time.This can present problems particularly across varying time zones. Inaddition, video communications using VoIP generally require high-endcomputing devices with fairly high bandwidth network connections. Evenif all of these challenges are met, there still may be problems inconnecting video calls and sustaining the calls for any period of time.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter.

Various embodiments enable a video messaging experience which permitsthe exchange of short video messages in an asynchronous manner. Thevideo messaging experience preserves the video intimacy and experienceof synchronous-type video communications, while at the same timeprovides the convenience of SMS-type message exchange.

The video messaging experience is provided by a video messagingapplication which, in at least some embodiments, enables a short videomessage to be recorded and for a single action to be utilized to stopthe recording and send the short video message to one or more intendedrecipients.

Various embodiments provide an ability to visually annotate, in aplurality of video message conversations, a respective status of eachvideo message conversation in the plurality of video messageconversations. In some cases, a video message conversation can berepresented using a thumbnail video image. Some embodiments generate thethumbnail video image based, at least in part, on a most recentlyreceived video clip in the respective video message conversation.

Yet other embodiments enable a particular camera mode, either frontcamera mode or rear camera mode, to be automatically selected inaccordance with a user's action.

Other embodiments enable portions of video message conversations to beplayed back in an interconnected fashion. Specifically, a filmstrip isprovided as part of a user interface. The filmstrip includes a videorepresentation, e.g. a thumbnail image, associated with each short videomessage in a video message conversation. Selection of a particular videorepresentation were result in the video message conversation beingplayed back, from that point, in a continuous fashion which includes theother short video messages that serially follow the selected videorepresentation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different instances in thedescription and the figures may indicate similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an environment in an example implementationin accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a system in an example implementationshowing FIG. 1 in greater detail.

FIG. 3 is an example implementation in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 4 is an example implementation in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 6 is an example implementation in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 7 is an example implementation in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 8 is an example implementation in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example computing device that can be utilized toimplement various embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

Various embodiments enable a video messaging experience which permitsthe exchange of short video messages in an asynchronous manner. Theshort video message can have any suitable length. For example, in someembodiments, the short video messages can have lengths up to about 40second. In yet other embodiments, the short video messages can rangefrom between 10-20 second in length. The video messaging experiencepreserves the video intimacy and experience of synchronous-type videocommunications, while at the same time provides the convenience ofSMS-type message exchange. So, for example, whenever a particularindividual has an opportunity, they can record and send a short videomessage to another person. The other person can reply, at theirconvenience, with a similar short video message. This approach solvesthe problem of requiring the parties to be online at the same timebecause the short video messages can be queued up by a correspondingvideo messaging application and presented to the recipient when therecipient launches or returns to the video messaging application. Thisapproach also mitigates the need for high-end devices and high bandwidthconnections because the short video messages are, as the name implies,short and can be easily exchanged on lower-end devices in suitable, lesscomplicated file formats or streaming formats.

The video messaging experience is provided by a video messagingapplication which, in at least some embodiments, enables a short videomessage to be recorded and for a single action to be utilized to stopthe recording and send the short video message to one or more intendedrecipients.

Various embodiments provide an ability to visually annotate, in aplurality of video message conversations, a respective status of eachvideo message conversation in the plurality of video messageconversations. A video message conversation can be thought of as acollection of short video messages associated with a common conversationthread. Thus, a video message conversation is essentially a series ofback-and-forth short video messages between recipients. In some cases, avideo message conversation can be represented using a thumbnail videoimage. Some embodiments generate the thumbnail video image based, atleast in part, on a most recently received video clip in the respectivevideo message conversation.

Yet other embodiments enable a particular camera mode, either frontcamera mode or rear camera mode, to be automatically selected inaccordance with a user's action. For example, if a user opens up a newmessage and provides an address, an assumption is made that the userintends to send a short video message that includes a video of himselfor herself. Accordingly, the front-facing camera is automaticallyselected so that a video of the user can be taken while a verbal messageis conveyed. If, on the other hand, the user chooses to enter a recordmode before opening a new message, an assumption is made that the userintends to capture video associated with their environment. Accordingly,the rear-facing, is automatically selected for video capture.

Other embodiments enable portions of video message conversations to beplayed back in an interconnected fashion. Specifically, a filmstrip isprovided as part of a user interface. The filmstrip includes a videorepresentation, e.g. a thumbnail image, associated with each short videomessage in a video message conversation. Selection of a particular videorepresentation were result in the video message conversation beingplayed back, from that point, in a continuous fashion which includes theother short video messages that serially follow the selected videorepresentation.

In the following discussion, an example environment is first describedthat is operable to employ the techniques described herein. Exampleillustrations of the various embodiments are then described, which maybe employed in the example environment, as well as in otherenvironments. Accordingly, the example environment is not limited toperforming the described embodiments and the described embodiments arenot limited to implementation in the example environment.

Example Operating Environment

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an environment 100 in an exampleimplementation that is operable to employ the techniques described inthis document. The illustrated environment 100 includes an example of acomputing device 102 that may be configured in a variety of ways. Forexample, the computing device 102 may be configured as a traditionalcomputer (e.g., a desktop personal computer, laptop computer, and soon), a mobile station, an entertainment appliance, a set-top boxcommunicatively coupled to a television, a wireless phone, a netbook, agame console, a handheld device, and so forth as further described inrelation to FIG. 2. Thus, the computing device 102 may range from fullresource devices with substantial memory and processor resources (e.g.,personal computers, game consoles) to a low-resource device with limitedmemory and/or processing resources (e.g., traditional set-top boxes,hand-held game consoles). The computing device 102 also includessoftware that causes the computing device 102 to perform one or moreoperations as described below.

Computing device 102 also includes a web platform 104. The web platformworks in connection with content of the web, e.g. public content such asweb pages and the like. A web platform can include and make use of manydifferent types of technologies such as, by way of example and notlimitation, URLs, HTTP, REST, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, DOM, and the like.The web platform can also work with a variety of data formats such asXML, JSON, and the like. Web platforms can include web browsers, localapplications, and the like.

Computing device 102 also includes a gesture module 105 that recognizesinput pointer gestures that can be performed by one or more fingers, andcauses operations or actions to be performed that correspond to thegestures. The gestures may be recognized by module 105 in a variety ofdifferent ways. For example, the gesture module 105 may be configured torecognize a touch input, such as a finger of a user's hand 106 a asproximal to display device 108 of the computing device 102 usingtouchscreen functionality, or functionality that senses proximity of auser's finger that may not necessarily be physically touching thedisplay device 108, e.g., using near field technology. Module 105 can beutilized to recognize single-finger gestures and bezel gestures,multiple-finger/same-hand gestures and bezel gestures, and/ormultiple-finger/different-hand gestures and bezel gestures.

Computing device 102 also includes a video messaging application 106that can be invoked to execute on the computing device. Computing device102 also includes one or more of a front-facing camera 113 and arear-facing camera 115. These cameras can be used in conjunction withthe video messaging application 106 as described above and below.

The voice messaging application 106 provides a number of differentfeatures including, by way of example and not limitation, single actionstop and send recording, annotating video thumbnail representations,automatic camera selection, playback of interconnected short videomessages, preemptive processing, and other features that are describedin more detail below.

The computing device 102 may also be configured to detect anddifferentiate between a touch input (e.g., provided by one or morefingers of the user's hand 106 a) and a stylus input (e.g., provided bya stylus 116). The differentiation may be performed in a variety ofways, such as by detecting an amount of the display device 108 that iscontacted by the finger of the user's hand 106 a versus an amount of thedisplay device 108 that is contacted by the stylus 116.

Thus, the gesture module 105 may support a variety of different gesturetechniques through recognition and leverage of a division between stylusand touch inputs, as well as different types of touch inputs andnon-touch inputs.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system 200 that includes the computingdevice 102 as described with reference to FIG. 1. The example system 200enables ubiquitous environments for a seamless user experience whenrunning applications on a personal computer (PC), a television device,and/or a mobile device. Services and applications run substantiallysimilar in all three environments for a common user experience whentransitioning from one device to the next while utilizing anapplication, playing a video game, watching a video, and so on.

In the example system 200, multiple devices are interconnected through acentral computing device. The central computing device may be local tothe multiple devices or may be located remotely from the multipledevices. In one embodiment, the central computing device may be a cloudof one or more server computers. These computers can be connected to themultiple devices through a network, the Internet, or other datacommunication link. In one embodiment, this interconnection architectureenables functionality to be delivered across multiple devices to providea common and seamless experience to a user of the multiple devices. Eachof the multiple devices may have different physical requirements andcapabilities, and the central computing device uses a platform to enablethe delivery of an experience to the device that is both tailored to thedevice and yet common to all devices. In one embodiment, a class oftarget devices is created and experiences are tailored to the genericclass of devices. A class of devices may be defined by physicalfeatures, types of usage, or other common characteristics of thedevices.

In various implementations, the computing device 102 may assume avariety of different configurations, such as for computer 202, mobile204, and television 206 uses. Each of these configurations includesdevices that may have generally different constructs and capabilities,and thus the computing device 102 may be configured according to one ormore of the different device classes. For instance, the computing device102 may be implemented as the computer 202 class of a device thatincludes a personal computer, desktop computer, a multi-screen computer,laptop computer, netbook, and so on. Each of these differentconfigurations may employ a web platform, e.g. a web browser, asdescribed above and below.

The computing device 102 may also be implemented as the mobile 204 classof device that includes mobile devices, such as a mobile phone, portablemusic player, portable gaming device, a tablet computer, a multi-screencomputer, and so on. The computing device 102 may also be implemented asthe television 206 class of device that includes devices having orconnected to generally larger screens in casual viewing environments.These devices include televisions, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, andso on. The techniques described herein may be supported by these variousconfigurations of the computing device 102 and are not limited to thespecific examples the techniques described herein.

The cloud 208 includes and/or is representative of a platform 210 forcontent services 212. The platform 210 abstracts underlyingfunctionality of hardware (e.g., servers) and software resources of thecloud 208. The content services 212 may include applications and/or datathat can be utilized while computer processing is executed on serversthat are remote from the computing device 102. Content services 212 canbe provided as a service over the Internet and/or through a subscribernetwork, such as a cellular or Wi-Fi network.

The platform 210 may abstract resources and functions to connect thecomputing device 102 with other computing devices. The platform 210 mayalso serve to abstract scaling of resources to provide a correspondinglevel of scale to encountered demand for the content services 212 thatare implemented via the platform 210. Accordingly, in an interconnecteddevice embodiment, implementation of functionality described herein maybe distributed throughout the system 200. For example, the functionalitymay be implemented in part on the computing device 102 as well as viathe platform 210 that abstracts the functionality of the cloud 208.

Such functionality can include a video messaging service and, inparticular, a video messaging service some aspects of which can beimplemented by video messaging application 106, and other aspects ofwhich can be implemented by content services 212, as described above andbelow.

The video messaging services implemented by content services 212 caninclude, by way of example and not limitation, serving as a messageexchange focal point between users who send and receive short videomessages, providing a mechanism by which preprocessing can be performed,for example, preemptive uploading and preemptive downloading of shortvideo messages, as well as other backend services typically provided byservers that support the exchange of messages such as SMS messages.

Generally, any of the functions described herein can be implementedusing software, firmware, hardware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), manualprocessing, or a combination of these implementations. The terms“module,” “functionality,” and “logic” as used herein generallyrepresent software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof. In thecase of a software implementation, the module, functionality, or logicrepresents program code that performs specified tasks when executed onor by a processor (e.g., CPU or CPUs). The program code can be stored inone or more computer readable memory devices.

In the discussion that follows, various sections describe variousexample embodiments. A section entitled “Video MessagingApplication—Getting Started” describes how users can initially interactwith a video messaging application in accordance with one or moreembodiments. Following this, a section entitled “Annotating VideoThumbnail Representations” describes how video thumbnail representationscan be utilized to annotate video message conversations in accordancewith one or more embodiments. Next, a section entitled “Playback ofInterconnected Video Messages” describes various aspects of how shortvideo messages can be played back for a user in accordance with one ormore embodiments. Following this, a section entitled “Single Action StopRecording and Send” describes how short video messages can be sent inaccordance with one or more embodiments. Next, a section entitled“Automatic Camera Selection” describes how a front-facing camera or arear-facing camera can be automatically selected in accordance with oneor more embodiments. Following this, a section entitled “PreemptiveProcessing” describes how certain aspects of message processing can bepreemptively performed in accordance with one or more embodiments. Next,a section entitled “Emoticons and Pre-canned Responses” described howusers may respond to short video messages that are received, inaccordance with one or more embodiments. Last, a section entitled“Example Device” describes aspects of an example device that can beutilized to implement one or more embodiments.

Having described example operating environments in which the inventiveprinciples can be employed, consider now a discussion of variousembodiments.

Video Messaging Application—Getting Started

In one or more embodiments, the video messaging application is designedto enable asynchronous video communication in a manner that is“lightweight” and, from a user's perspective, fast and easy to use. Theapplication itself, in one or more embodiments, has two main screens, anexample of which is provided below. A first of the screens visuallylists the video message conversations in which the user is currentlytaking part. The second of the screens enables the user to select aparticular video message conversation and have its contents displayed inthe second screen, an example of which is provided below. In thismanner, a simple user interface is provided which promotes ease ofusability.

In one or more embodiments, the video messaging application is based onthe use of phone numbers. For individuals who appear in a user's contactlist, associated phone numbers may be resolved from names or contactinformation appearing in the user's contact list. This can permit a userto communicate with anyone in their phonebook or contact list, as wellas people who may not appear in their phonebook or contact list. Thus,this solves one of the barriers associated with VoIP communication whichrequires the exchange of contact information between users through auser interface.

In one or more embodiments, when a user starts the video messagingapplication for the first time, a simple phone number-based challengecan be issued to ensure that the user is the actual owner of that phonenumber. This can take place in any suitable way including, for example,using well-accepted SMS code challenge techniques. Once completed, thevideo messaging application can be opened by the user and the user canbe presented with a welcome video explaining the various applicationfeatures and functionality. The user can then start a video messageconversation by simply selecting a contact or providing a phone numberof an individual with whom they wish to converse. The user can thenrecord a short video message and have it sent to the recipient.

In cases where an intended recipient does not have the video messagingapplication installed on their device, an SMS message can be sent with alink that indicates that the sender of the message is using a videomessaging application. The SMS message can indicate that the sender hasrecorded a short video message for the recipient and can indicate thatby clicking on the link, they can effectively install the videomessaging application. When the user clicks on the link, they can benavigated to an application store from which they can download the videomessaging application. Once the application is downloaded, the recipientcan then view the short video message and reply accordingly

Having considered how the video messaging application can be initiallyaccessed by a user, consider now some user interface aspects associatedwith video message conversations.

Annotating Video Thumbnail Representations

As discussed above, a video message conversation allows participants inthe video message conversation to exchange video clips and/or shortvideo messages with one another. At times, a video message conversationadditionally allows an exchange of text messages. A video messageconversation can be as simple as an exchange of short video messagesbetween two participants, or can be more complex and involve an exchangeof short video messages between three or more participants. Thus, avideo message conversation allows participants to send and receivemultiple short video messages with one another. In some cases, aparticular user can engage in multiple video message conversations withmultiple different participants. Depending upon the responsiveness ofthe user, as well as how active each video message conversation is (e.g.whether short video messages are actively being exchanged or not), themultiple video message conversations can be in varying states from oneanother. In turn, this can make the management of multiple videomessages conversations cumbersome to the user. For example, the user mayhave some video message conversations with unconsumed content or contentthat has not been viewed. Further, the user may have trouble rememberingwho is participating in the video message conversation, or may be unsurewhether contact information of a participant has been stored for futureaccess.

Various embodiments provide an ability to visually annotate one or morestatuses associated with a video message conversation. For example, someembodiments can annotate whether a video message conversation has astatus associated with unconsumed and/or unviewed short video messages.At times, a video message conversation can be represented using athumbnail video image. A visual annotation can be associated with thethumbnail video image to convey one or more status of the video messageconversation, such as by superimposing the annotation over the thumbnailvideo image. Alternately or additionally, the thumbnail video image canbe generated based, at least in part, on a received short video messagein the respective video message conversation, as further describedbelow.

Consider FIG. 3, which illustrates an example implementation inaccordance with one or more embodiments. FIG. 3 includes device 300,which can be any suitable type of device, such as computing device 102of FIGS. 1 and 2. In this example, device 300 is illustrated as a mobilephone device, but it is to be appreciated that any suitable type ofcomputing device can be utilized without departing from the scope of theclaimed subject matter.

Among other things, device 300 includes an ability for a user toparticipate in video message conversations. For example, as discussedabove, video messaging application and/or plug in with video messageconversation capabilities can be installed on device 300. The videomessaging application can subsequently either be automatically launchedor selectively launched. As noted above, device 300 also includes one ormore cameras and/or audio input devices, shown generally here togetheras input device 302 for the sake of brevity. While illustrated here as acombined input device, it is to be appreciated that device 300 caninclude separate cameras and audio input devices placed in any suitableposition without departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter.In some embodiments, device 300 can include a first camera facing a userof device 300 (i.e. a front-facing camera) and a second camera facingout from the back of device 300 (i.e. a rear-facing camera). It is to beappreciated and understood that cameras other than front-facing andrear-facing cameras can be employed without departing from the spiritand scope of the claimed subject matter. For example, multiple camerasthat face different directions can be used, e.g., front and sidecameras, back and side cameras, different side cameras, more than twocameras facing different directions, and the like. How a user interactswith device 300 can, at times, influence which camera captures videoand/or how the captured video is inserted into a video messageconversation, as further described below. For instance, device 300 caninclude selectable controls, such as viewfinder 304, that a user caninteract with to trigger video capture and/or camera selection.

In this example, device 300 displays separate representations of sixvideo message conversations that are associated with a particular user.While display 300 is illustrated as displaying six video messageconversation representations, it is to be appreciated that this numberis merely for discussion purposes, and that any suitable number of videomessages can be displayed. In some embodiments, a user can scroll and/ormove the currently displayed representations to access and/or viewadditional video message conversations. For example, when device 300includes touch screen input capabilities, a user can input a touchgesture associated with scrolling and/or moving images. Alternately oradditionally, the user can input similar scroll commands via any type ofinput mechanism, such as a keyboard, a mouse, soft keys, and so forth.It is to additionally be appreciated that a video message conversationcan be represented in any suitable manner, such as by an icon, anemoticon, a still image, and/or a thumbnail video image. A thumbnailvideo image can include animation, video, and/or snapshots of imagesassociated with the video message conversation, as further describedbelow.

In some embodiments, representations of video message conversations canbe separately annotated to convey respective status(es) of theassociated video message conversation. To begin with, different types ofrepresentations can be used for the different video messageconversations to convey different statuses. Here, the displayedrepresentations for video message conversations include representations306, 307, 308, 309, 310, and 311. In this example, representations 306and 308 are still images, while representation 310 is a thumbnail videoimage. Among other things, this difference and/or annotation can be usedto visually convey to the user that the video message conversationassociated with representation 310 has unviewed content, while allcontent contained in the video message conversations associated withrepresentations 306 and 310 has been viewed and/or consumed. However, asdescribed above, any suitable representation can be used withoutdeparting from the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Additionally in this example, representations 306, 308, and 310 aresuperimposed with annotations 312, 314, and 316 respectively. In thisexample, the annotations are illustrated as text strings with differentdisplay properties from one another. For example, annotation 312includes the string “Joe and Stacie” using white text, while annotation314 includes the string “Iron Man Bob” using black text. As in the caseabove, these visual differences can be used to convey that the status ofthe video message conversation associated with representation 306 isdifferent than the status of the video message conversation associatedwith representation 308. For example, the black text of statusannotation 314 can also be used to convey that the video messageconversation associated with “Iron Man Bob” has unviewed and/orunconsumed content. Further, the text term “Iron Man Bob” can convey aname assigned to the video message conversation and/or simply aparticipant who has sent a short video message in the video messageconversation. Similarly, the white text of annotation 112M can be usedto convey that all of the short video message and/or content associatedwith the corresponding video message conversation have been viewedand/or consumed.

Continuing on, annotation 316 includes the string “1-555-555-5555” usingwhite text. Here, the numerical number and/or phone number that isdisplayed can be used to indicate that contact information associatedwith the participant who sent the video clip is not currently stored inan address book and/or contact information of the receiving user. Thus,visual annotations can be utilized to convey any suitable type of statusinformation associated with a video message conversation, such as a newvideo message conversation has been received, a video messageconversation is expiring, a video message conversation has new and/orunviewed video clip content, contact information has not been stored, amood associated with the sending user (e.g. an emoticon), and so forth.Further, annotations can be displayed using any suitable type ofcontent, such as an emoticon, text and its associated properties (e.g.bold, italic, color, etc.), icons, and so forth. Alternately oradditionally, video messages conversations with unconsumed and/orunviewed content can playback thumbnail video images or a differentanimation to indicate the status of unconsumed content, while videomessage conversations whose content has been completely viewed simplydisplay a still image.

In addition to annotating a representation of a video messageconversation, some embodiments can use positioning of therepresentations to convey status information. For example, the order inwhich the representations are placed can indicate which video messageconversations have older content and/or newer content. Alternately oradditionally, the order in which the representations are placed canindicate which video message conversations have been viewed morerecently. Here, representation 306 is illustrated as being in the upperleft hand corner, followed by representation 310 to its immediate right.Among other things, this placement can indicate that the video messageconversation associated with representation 310 includes newer contentand/or more recently viewed content than the video message conversationassociated with representation 306. Visually, this ordering follows asimilar structure to a paragraph, where the starting point is at the topleft hand corner of a paragraph, and words are read from left to right,until the bottom of the paragraph is reached. Using this structure, theplacement of representation 308 indicates that the associated videomessage conversation has either newer content and/or and content viewedmore recently than the video message conversations associated withrepresentations 306 and 310. Thus, status information can additionallybe conveyed through placement in/ordering of the representations.

Some embodiments use a thumbnail video image as a representation for avideo message conference. At times, the thumbnail video image can bebased upon a video clip composed of multiple frames from the short videomessage or video message conversation.

Consider FIG. 4, which illustrates an implementation that is inaccordance with one or more embodiments. Here, video clip 400 generallyrepresents a portion of video from a short video message received by aparticipant in a video message conversation. It is to be appreciatedthat video clip 400 can be composed from any suitable collection offrames in the video message conversation, such as the most recentlyreceived frames, the first frames received, frames associated with aparticular user in the video message conversation, and so forth. Whenplaying back the video clip, the series of frames are played in rapidsuccession, thus generating a video which captures potential changes inmovement and/or content over time. A thumbnail video image can begenerated from gathering a subset of the frames effective to create ashorter version of the received video clip. Any suitable algorithmand/or image selection process can be utilized. Here, thumbnail videoimage 402 is simply generated from video clip 400 by extracting everyother still frame from the source video clip (e.g. video clip 400).However, it is to be appreciated that this simple selection metric ismerely for discussion purposes. Other suitable selection metrics can beutilized to generate the thumbnail video, such as selecting frames for apredetermined amount of time from the beginning of the source videoclip, selecting frames for a predetermined amount of time from the endof the source video clip, selecting frames based upon a fixed timeinterval, selecting a predetermined number of frames at equal intervalsregardless of a short video message length (i.e. selecting 5 framesequally spaced), selecting frames based upon identifying content ofinterest, and so forth. For example, a face recognition algorithm couldbe used to analyze the source video clip to determine when a video hascaptured a facial image. When a facial image is determined, associatedframes (and surrounding frames) could be extracted and/or copiedeffective to generate a thumbnail video image. Thus, detectionalgorithms can be used to ensure that the thumbnail video image containscontent of interest to the recipient, such as a friend's face, ratherthan an empty room.

Once a thumbnail video image has been generated, it can be used torepresent a video message conversation, such as representation 310 ofFIG. 3. When displaying these representations, some embodimentsautomatically playback the collection of images contained within thethumbnail video image. This automatic playback can be configured in anysuitable manner, such as a repeat loop, where the playback continuesrepeatedly from the start of the thumbnail video image to the end for anundetermined number of repeats, for a set number of repeats, and/or fora single playback. Alternately or additionally, the thumbnail videoimage can be configured to play based upon the user activating anassociated playback control for the thumbnail video image.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments. The method can be implemented inconnection with any suitable hardware, software, firmware or combinationthereof. In at least some embodiments, aspects of the method can beimplemented by a suitably configured voice messaging application, suchas voice messaging application 106 (FIG. 1).

Step 500 creates at least one video message conversation associated witha user. In some embodiments, creating a video message conversationinvolves the user receiving a notification, data, and/or a messageinitiated by at least a second user in the video message conversationeffective to create a new video message conversation with the user as aparticipant. This can be as simple as receiving an initiation message,or as complex as being invited to join a conversation and going throughsubsequent authentication procedures to validate the user as aparticipant in the video message conversation. In other embodiments theuser, by way of the voice messaging application, can create the videomessage conversation by initiating and sending data, such as a shortvideo message, to other users to create a new video conversation messageon their associated devices. As described above, the video messageconversation can be as simple as an exchange of short video messagesbetween two participants, or more complex and involve an exchange ofshort video messages between three or more participants. Alternately oradditionally, a user can be a participant in multiple video messageconversations.

Step 502 receives at least one short video message from anotherparticipant in a video message conversation. The short video message canbe of any suitable data size and/or playback length in time. In somecases, short video messages can be received from multiple participants.

Responsive to receiving the short video message, step 504 generates arepresentation of the video message conversation. In some cases, arespective representation is generated for each video messageconversation associated with the user. As discussed above, generating arepresentation can include generating a thumbnail video image based on areceived short video message and/or generating a still image. In someembodiments, generation of the representation can be based on a userchanging screens in an application, as further described below. Forexample, the voice messaging application can, among other things,facilitate creating, deleting, and viewing multiple video messageconversations associated with a user. The user may desire to switchscreens in the voice messaging application from a screen associated witha particular video message conversation to a screen associated with asummary of active and/or idle video message conversations associatedwith the user. Switching to the summary screen can, in some cases,trigger generation of the representation. In other cases, therepresentation is automatically generated in anticipation of switchingto the summary screen at a future time.

Step 506 displays the representation of the video message conversation.Any suitable representation can be utilized, examples of which areprovided above. In some cases, multiple representations of respectivevideo message conversations can be displayed in a summary view, asfurther described below. Responsive to displaying the representation ofthe video message conversation, step 508 visually annotates therepresentation of the video message conversation based upon at least onestatus associated with the video message conversation. The annotationcan be configured to convey one status or multiple statuses. In somecase, multiple annotations can be used, such as a text string beingdisplayed in parallel with an icon and/or emoticon. Thus, not only can auser be a participant in multiple video message conversations, butrepresentations of each associated video message conversation can bedisplayed and annotated to convey status information of each respectiveconversation.

Having described various embodiments of annotating representations ofvideo message conversations, consider now playback of associated shortvideo messages in a video message conversation that is in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

Playback of Interconnected Video Messages

As discussed above, a video message conversation can include multipleshort video messages and/or video clips. As a user enters into a videomessage conversation, they may desire to view part and/or all of theassociated videos in a seamless manner (i.e. contiguous viewing withoutuser intervention). Various embodiments provide an ability for a user toseamlessly playback multiple short video messages exchanged in a videomessage conversation. For example, some embodiments enable a user toconfigure a video message application to play a single short videomessage in a video message conversation, or to contiguously (i.e.seamlessly) playback at least part of the associated short videomessages. The contiguous playback enables multiple short video messagesto be played together, without requiring user intervention to select andplay each individual one separately. For example, when the video messageapplication is configured in a contiguous playback mode, a first shortvideo message of the video message conversation can be selected forplayback. Upon the conclusion of the selected short video message beingplayed, a second short video message of the same video messageconversation can be automatically started for playback, and so on. Inaddition, the video message conversation can include, in addition toshort video messages, video clips that may not necessarily be recordedby a participant. These video clips can include, by way of example andnot limitation, pre-canned video clips as described below.

Consider now FIG. 6, which illustrates an example computing device inaccordance with one or more embodiments. Here, the computing device isillustrated at two different points in time, each designated 600 a and600 b, respectively. Point in time 600 a illustrates a first screenshot,and point in time 600 b illustrates a second screenshot. The firstscreenshot is illustrated as displaying a summary view of video messageconversations associated with a particular user. In some embodiments,when a user wants to enter into a particular video message conversation(i.e. view content associated with that particular video messageconversation), they can begin the process by selecting which videomessage conversation they wish to view. While reviewing this summary,the user may notice that the video message conversation associated withrepresentation 602 (entitled “Emma”) has unviewed and/or unconsumedcontent, and may wish to view its associated content. Utilizing touchscreen capabilities, the user touches the screen over representation 602as illustrated. Upon receiving this input, the associated voicemessaging application switches what is displayed on the screen todisplay information particular to the video message conversationassociated with representation 602, as shown in the second screenshot.While this example is described in the context of inputting commands viaa touch screen interface, it is to be appreciated and understood thatany suitable type of input mechanism can be utilized without departingfrom the scope of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 7 illustrates a more detailed view of the second screenshot. There,summary information associated with a particular video messageconversation is displayed. In this video message conversation summaryview, the current short video message to be played is located in aprominent position (e.g. a position that is more viewable and/or visiblethan other locations). Here, representation 602 is located near the topof the device and is larger than it was in the first screenshot.Alternately or additionally, this location can be configured to displaythe actual short video message associated with representation 602 in apaused, unstarted/stopped state, or simply as a still frame extractedfrom the short video message.

In some embodiments, representation 602 can include annotation 700 toindicate status information associated with the short video message asfurther described above. Alternately or additionally, annotation 700 canbe configured as a selectable control. For instance, the left pointingarrow in annotation 700 can be selected to navigate to a previous screen(such as the first screenshot).

Beneath representation 602 appears a so-called filmstrip 702. Thefilmstrip includes at least a partial summary of additional contentincluded in the video message conversation. In some cases, the filmstripdisplays representations of associated short video messages that make upthe particular video message conversation. Alternately or additionally,these representations can include annotations to indicate associatedstatus information. Status information can additionally be indicated byusing the ordering of how the representations in filmstrip 702 aredisplayed, such as which short video messages have been viewed in thevideo message conversation, the order in which short video messages werereceived, and so forth. To aid in viewing this content, some embodimentsconfigure filmstrip 702 as a navigable filmstrip (e.g. with scrollingcapabilities) in order to see what short video messages are included inthe video message conversation. Each representation can be selected toenable contiguous playback of the selected short video message and thosethat follow from that point forward. Any suitable input can be used toinitiate these actions, examples of which are provided above and below.

In addition to displaying summary information associated with aparticular video message conversation, the illustrated screenshot canadditionally include selectable controls that enable the user tointeract with the video message conversation and/or the video messageapplication. In the illustrated example, controls 704, 706, 708, and 710are displayed as part of the video message conversation summary display.It is to be appreciated that the inclusion of these particular controlsare merely for discussion purposes, and that any combination of controlswith varying functionality can be included without departing from thescope of the claimed subject matter.

Control 704 can be configured to start playback of one or more shortvideo messages in the video message conversation. In some embodiments,selection of control 704 can initiate contiguous playback of multipleshort video messages in the associated video message conversation.Control 706 can be utilized to initiate a video recording session togenerate a short video message for insertion in the associated videomessage conversation. Controls 708 and 710 can be used to access furtherfunctionality associated with the video messaging application, such ascreating a new video message conversation, adding a new participant tothe active video message conversation, configuring default settingsand/or user settings of the video messaging application, and so forth.

To further illustrate, consider FIG. 8 which illustrates the computingdevice in a contiguous playback mode. The contiguous playback mode caneither be a default configuration of the video message application, or auser-selected configuration. When a user selects control 704, playbackof the short video message associated with representation 602 isinitiated. As part of the playback process, control 704 can be removedfrom the display for unobscured viewing. Based upon eachrepresentation's location in filmstrip 702, a user may observe that theshort video message associated with representation 800 is the firstshort video message received after the short video message associatedwith representation 602, followed by the short video message associatedwith representation 802 a. Thus, upon completion of the currentlyplaying short video message (i.e. the short video message associatedwith representation 602), some embodiments automatically play the shortvideo message associated with representation 800. This is indicated byscreenshot 100 HMc. Here, the short video message 804 assumes theprimary viewing position in the topmost location with the biggestdedicated viewing area, and its playback is automatically started.Additionally, representation 802 a is moved in filmstrip 702 into theposition previously occupied by representation 800. This movement can beused to indicate that the associated short video message ofrepresentation 802 is next in the list to be played automatically. Ifanother short video message has been received after the short videomessage associated with representation 802, its representation wouldvisually move as well, indicated here by the appearance ofrepresentation 806.

In some embodiments, filmstrip 702 can be navigated to select a startingshort video message. For example, in some cases, filmstrip 702 can benavigated to a starting point to identify the first short video messagereceived time (regardless of whether there is unviewed content), to anending point that identifies the last short video message received intime, or any point in between. Thus, a user can navigate to any shortvideo message and begin seamless, contiguous playback of multiple shortvideo messages from that point forward. In some cases, the playback ofshort video messages can be configured to only automatically playbackcertain short video messages. For example, in some embodiments, onlyshort video messages with a status of being unviewed are automaticallyplayed back in a contiguous manner, or only short video messagesassociated with a particular sender are automatically played back in acontiguous manner. In other embodiments, all short video messagesassociated with the video message conversation can be contiguouslyplayed back. These can be played in any determined order, such as havingunviewed short video messages being played back first, and thencontinuously playing back viewed short video messages after completingplayback of the unviewed short video messages.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments. The method can be implemented inconnection with any suitable hardware, software, firmware or combinationthereof. In at least some embodiments, aspects of the method can beimplemented by a suitably configured voice messaging application, suchas voice messaging application 106 (FIG. 1).

Step 900 receives selection of a first short video message associatedwith a video message conversation. The video message conversation caninclude multiple short video messages, as described above. Further,selection of the first short video message can occur in any suitablemanner. In some embodiments, the first short video message can beautomatically selected by the video message application upon enteringand/or viewing the associated video message conversation. The firstshort video message for playback can also be selected based on any othersuitable type of criteria and/or status. For example, in someembodiments the video message application can automatically select ashort video message that has not yet been viewed. Alternately oradditionally, the video message application can select the short videomessage based on when it was received. In other embodiments, the firstshort video message can be manually selected by a user.

Responsive to selection of the first short video message, however it mayoccur, step 902 initiates playback of the first short video message. Insome embodiments, playback can be manually initiated by the user, suchas through selection of a control. In other embodiments, playback of thefirst short video message can occur automatically and without userintervention.

Step 904 automatically plays back at least a second short video messageassociated with the video message conversation without userintervention. In some cases, the second short video message can beselected based upon when it was received in time relative to the firstshort video message. Alternately or additionally, a second short videomessage can be based on criteria and/or status information. For example,in some embodiments, selection of which short video messages toautomatically play back can be based on the criteria to onlyautomatically play back short video messages from a particularparticipant in the video message conversation. In other embodiments,selection of which short video messages to play can be based on acombination of criteria and status information, such as onlyautomatically playing back short video messages from a particularparticipant that have not already been consumed and/or viewed.

Having considered aspects of playback of interconnected video messages,consider now a discussion of how a single action can be used to stoprecording of a short video message and send the message to a recipient.

Single Action Stop Recording and Send

In one or more embodiments, the video messaging application enables ashort video message to be recorded and for a single action to beutilized to stop the recording and send the short video message to oneor more intended recipients. As an example, consider the following.

Assume, for example, the user has indicated an intent to send a shortvideo message by opening a short video message shell and providing oneor more addresses (i.e. phone numbers) in the shell. This can be done inany suitable way. For example, the user may simply select a contact anda short video message shell can be automatically opened. Alternately oradditionally, the user may select a control that causes a short videomessage shell to be opened. The user can then populate the shell withone or more addresses of intended recipients. Alternately oradditionally, the user may select a reply option to reply to apreviously-received short video message. Once the short video messageshell has had an address populated into it by whatever means, the usercan select a record option to record their short video message. Thisstep can be performed in any suitable way.

For example, in at least some embodiments, the record option can beselected by way of a hard control, such as a depressible button, on theassociated computing device. The user can depress the hard control toinitiate video capture. Once the user has terminated the short videomessage, by releasing the hard control, the short video message can beautomatically sent to the specified recipient or recipients.

Alternately or additionally, in at least some embodiments the recordoption can be selected by way of a soft control, such as a displayedvideo record button. In these embodiments by tapping the video recordbutton, the user can initiate video capture and begin to record theirshort video message. When the short video message has been completed,the user can simply tap again on the display, e.g., on the button, andthe short video message can be automatically sent to the specifiedrecipient or recipients. Further, the notion of “sending” the messagecan relate to allowing the message or portions thereof to be delivered,e.g., streamed, while the message is being recorded. In this case,portions of the short video message may be transmitted from the phoneprior to the user deciding that they wish to have the message deliveredas by, for example, terminating capture of the short video message.Still further, in at least some embodiments a “cancel” option can beprovided. In this case, the user may choose to cancel the short videomessage rather than stopping and sending the message. This can behelpful in situations where a user may change their mind and, in thissense, may be advantageous over scenarios where a message is streamedbefore a user terminates recording the message.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments. The method can be implemented inconnection with any suitable hardware, software, firmware, orcombination thereof. In at least some embodiments, aspects of the methodcan be implemented by a suitably-configured video messaging application.

Step 1000 receives a user input associated with preparing a short videomessage. This input can be received in any suitable way. For example,this input can be received and can be sufficient to cause a short videomessage shell to be populated with one or more addresses (i.e. phonenumbers) of intended recipients of the short video message. Examples ofhow this can be done are provided above. Step 1002 receives input toinitiate recording a short video message. This step can be performed inany suitable way. For example, this step can be performed by receivinginput by way of a hard or soft control, as mentioned above.

Step 1004 receives input to terminate recording the short video message.In embodiments that utilize a hard control, this step can be performedby receiving an input that the hard control has been pressed ordepressed in some manner. For example, the hard control may reside inthe form of a toggle switch. By initially pressing the toggle switch,the video capture mode can be initiated. Subsequently, by pressing thetoggle switch again, the video capture mode can be terminated.Alternately, the hard control may reside in the form of a button that ispressed down to record and released or depressed to terminate recording.In embodiments that utilize a soft control, the soft control may beinitially tapped to initiate recording of the short video message.Subsequently, the soft control may again be tapped to terminaterecording of the short video message.

Responsive to receiving the input, whether by way of hard or softcontrol, step 1006 terminates recording of the short video message andautomatically sends the message to the recipients who were previouslyspecified to receive the message. In this manner, a single user actionis used to terminate recording the short video message and send themessage to the intended recipients.

Having considered single action stop recording and send embodiments,consider now a discussion of how a camera can be automatically selectedin accordance with one or more embodiments.

Automatic Camera Selection

In one or more embodiments, a particular camera mode, either frontcamera mode or rear camera mode, can be automatically selected inaccordance with a user's action. For example, if a user opens up a newmessage and provides an address or otherwise indicates an intent to senda message, an assumption is made that the user intends to send a shortvideo message that includes a video of himself or herself. Accordingly,the front-facing camera is automatically selected so that a video of theuser can be taken while a verbal message is conveyed. If, on the otherhand, the user chooses to enter a record mode before opening a newmessage, an assumption is made that the user intends to capture videoassociated with their environment. Accordingly, the rear-facing, isautomatically selected for video capture.

Thus, in these embodiments, the video messaging application makes anassumption of the user's intent based upon a user action. Once the videomessaging application makes its assumption, it automatically selects acamera mode to be used to make a short video message. So, for example,if a user selects a particular contact to which a message is to be sent,as by tapping on the contact, the video messaging application can makeassumption that the user intends to send a short video message. Basedupon this assumption, the video messaging application can automaticallyselect the front-facing camera. Other user actions can result in theautomatic selection of the front-facing camera. For example, instead ofselecting a particular contact to which to send the message, the usermay simply open up a new message shell and may or may not provide anaddress. In this instance, by selecting a new message shell, the videomessaging application assumes that the user's intent is to send a shortvideo message. As such, the front-facing camera can be selectedautomatically. Alternately or additionally, other user actions such asresponding to a conversation that already exists can result in the videomessaging application automatically selecting the front-facing camera.

As an example, consider FIG. 3. There, if the user selects one of theicons at the lower right thus indicating an intent to create a newmessage, the front-facing camera can be automatically selected based onthe assumption that the user wishes to send a short video message. Onthe other hand, assume the user selects viewfinder 304 because they wishto record something in front of them, the rear-facing camera can beautomatically selected based on the assumption that the user does notwish to record themselves.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith one or more embodiments. The method can be implemented inconnection with any suitable hardware, software, firmware, orcombination thereof. In at least some embodiments, aspects of the methodcan be implemented by a suitably-configured video messaging application.

Step 1100 receives a user input. This step can be performed by asuitably-configured computing device having a video messagingapplication installed thereon. Step 1102 ascertains whether the input isassociated with sending a short video message. This step can beperformed in any suitable way. For example, input associated withsending a short video message can include, by way of example and notlimitation, receiving the user input via a selectable control whichenables a new video message shell to be instantiated. Alternately oradditionally, the input can include selection of one or more contacts towhich a new video messages to be sent. Alternately or additionally, theinput can include receiving an input associated with responding to apreviously-received short video message. Alternately or additionally,the input can include receiving one or more addresses into a short videomessage shell.

Responsive to receiving an input associated with sending a short videomessage, step 1104 automatically selects a front-facing camera of thecomputing device and step 1106 enables preparation of a short videomessage. In this particular flow diagram path, this step can beperformed by receiving a selection of a record button or control andrecording the short video message. Step 1108 sends the short videomessage to one or more intended recipients.

If, on the other hand, step 1102 ascertains that the input is notassociated with sending a short video message, step 1110 automaticallyselects a different camera, e.g., a rear-facing camera and step 1112captures video with the rear-facing camera. Capture of the video can beperformed responsive to receiving a user input by way of a record buttonor control. Step 1106 enables preparation of a short video message. Thiscan include, in this particular flow diagram path, enabling the user toincorporate the video captured from the rear-facing camera into a shortvideo message shell along with enabling the user to enter one or moreaddresses into the short video message shell. Step 1108 sends the shortvideo message to one or more intended recipients.

Having considered automatic camera selection in accordance with one ormore embodiments, consider now a discussion of preemptive processing.

Preemptive Processing

In various embodiments, preemptive processing can be utilized toincrease the communication speed and reduce the perceived latency by theuser. The illustrated and described embodiments, preemptive processingcan take place in the form of preemptive uploads and preemptivedownloads, each of which is discussed below under its own sub-heading.

Preemptive Upload

In at least some embodiments, content of a short video message can beuploaded to a particular server while the user is still completing theshort video message. In this manner, the communication speed of themessage can be increased. As an example, consider a situation in whichthe user is creating a short video message but has not yet indicated therecipient of the message. As soon as the user starts recording themessage the content can begin to be reactively uploaded to the servereven while the user has not indicated an intended recipient. Once theuser indicates the recipient or recipients of the short video message,the recipients' addresses (e.g., phone numbers) can be provided to theserver and the short video message can be delivered to the intendedrecipients.

Preemptive uploading can also work in a situation where the user hasprovided an address of an intended recipient and begins to compose theshort video message. Similar to the approach described above, as soon asthe user begins to compose the short video message, message content andthe intended recipient addresses can be uploaded to the server while theuser is composing the message. Upon completion of the message, themessage can then be delivered to the intended recipients.

Preemptive Download

Preemptive processing can also include preemptively downloading portionsof short video messages. Preemptive downloading can help to mitigatebuffer delays and jitter during message playback. As an example considerthe following. Assume that Max composes a short video message to Grace.When Max sends the short video message to Grace, the message can bedownloaded on Grace's device before Grace is notified that there is amessage waiting. In this manner, if she attempts to play the messageback, the entire message file is on her device so that there will be nointerruption to play back. This is the case even if Grace loses networkconnectivity.

At least some embodiments, preemptive upload and preemptive download canwork in concert with one another to create an efficient messagedistribution pipeline. Specifically, while the user composes particularmessage to an intended recipient, during composition message content canbe preemptively uploaded to the server and preemptively downloaded tothe intended recipient. Upon completion of the message composition, theremainder of the message can be preemptively downloaded and anotification can then be generated to the recipient that they have a newmessage in the message queue.

Having considered preemptive processing in accordance with one or moreembodiments, consider now a discussion of various features which canenhance the user experience.

Emoticons and Pre-Canned Responses

In many instances, a recipient of a short video message may not be in aposition or location where they can record a video response. Yet, theymay wish to confirm to the sender that the short video message wasreceived, e.g., “I got your message.” In a video messaging applicationthat is primarily video-based, pre-recorded responses can be utilized toprovide a notification to the sender that a short video message wasreceived. The pre-recorded responses can take any suitable form. Forexample, pre-recorded responses can utilize various emoticons that canbe selected by the user or even customized by the user. For example, theuser may select from a variety of preconfigured emoticons that provide anotification to the sender that the message was received. Alternately oradditionally, users may be able to customize an emoticon in any suitableway. For example, the user may select a generic emoticon and then selectfeatures to make the emoticon look like an animated version ofthemselves. The notification may take any suitable form such as, forexample, a 5-10 second animation that represents a common response tomessage such as “I'm busy, can't talk” or “Got your message, I reallyliked it.”

Alternately or additionally, the user might create their own recordedpre-canned video response that they may select and send to the sender ofthe short video passage. Such a video response would typically featurethe user replying in some manner to the sender, e.g., “Hi, I receivedyour message and it is important to me. However, I'm unable to send areply at the present time. As soon as I am able, I will reply to yourmessage. Cheers!”

In yet other embodiments, the user may be able to select a movie clip ora television show clip from a library of clips to use as theirpre-canned response. For example, a user may select a movie clip ofRobert De Niro in the movie Taxi Driver in which the actor looks intothe mirror and asks “You talking to me?” Similarly, from the movie E.T.the Extraterrestrial, the user may select the clip in which E.T. says“E.T. phone home.”

From a business model standpoint, these clips may be licensed to userswho would pay a small fee to be able to use the clips as theirpre-canned response.

Having considered various embodiments, consider now a discussion ofexample device that can be utilized to implement the embodimentsdescribed above.

Example Device

FIG. 12 illustrates various components of an example device 700 that canbe implemented as any type of portable and/or computer device asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 to implement embodiments ofthe video messaging application described herein. Device 1200 includescommunication devices 1202 that enable wired and/or wirelesscommunication of device data 1204 (e.g., received data, data that isbeing received, data scheduled for broadcast, data packets of the data,etc.). The device data 1204 or other device content can includeconfiguration settings of the device, media content stored on thedevice, and/or information associated with a user of the device. Mediacontent stored on device 1200 can include any type of audio, video,and/or image data. Device 1200 includes one or more data inputs 1206 viawhich any type of data, media content, and/or inputs can be received,such as user-selectable inputs, messages, music, television mediacontent, recorded video content, and any other type of audio, video,and/or image data received from any content and/or data source.

Device 1200 also includes communication interfaces 1208 that can beimplemented as any one or more of a serial and/or parallel interface, awireless interface, any type of network interface, a modem, and as anyother type of communication interface. The communication interfaces 1208provide a connection and/or communication links between device 1200 anda communication network by which other electronic, computing, andcommunication devices communicate data with device 1200.

Device 1200 includes one or more processors 1210 (e.g., any ofmicroprocessors, controllers, and the like) which process variouscomputer-executable or readable instructions to control the operation ofdevice 1200 and to implement the embodiments described above.Alternatively or in addition, device 1200 can be implemented with anyone or combination of hardware, firmware, or fixed logic circuitry thatis implemented in connection with processing and control circuits whichare generally identified at 1212. Although not shown, device 1200 caninclude a system bus or data transfer system that couples the variouscomponents within the device. A system bus can include any one orcombination of different bus structures, such as a memory bus or memorycontroller, a peripheral bus, a universal serial bus, and/or a processoror local bus that utilizes any of a variety of bus architectures.

Device 1200 also includes computer-readable media 1214, such as one ormore memory components, examples of which include random access memory(RAM), non-volatile memory (e.g., any one or more of a read-only memory(ROM), flash memory, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.), and a disk storage device. Adisk storage device may be implemented as any type of magnetic oroptical storage device, such as a hard disk drive, a recordable and/orrewriteable compact disc (CD), any type of a digital versatile disc(DVD), and the like. Device 1200 can also include a mass storage mediadevice 1216.

Computer-readable media 1214 provides data storage mechanisms to storethe device data 1204, as well as various device applications 1218 andany other types of information and/or data related to operationalaspects of device 1200. For example, an operating system 1220 can bemaintained as a computer application with the computer-readable media1214 and executed on processors 1210. The device applications 1218 caninclude a device manager (e.g., a control application, softwareapplication, signal processing and control module, code that is nativeto a particular device, a hardware abstraction layer for a particulardevice, etc.), as well as other applications that can include, webbrowsers, image processing applications, communication applications suchas instant messaging applications, word processing applications and avariety of other different applications. The device applications 1218also include any system components or modules to implement embodimentsof the techniques described herein. In this example, the deviceapplications 1218 include an interface application 1222 and agesture-capture driver 1224 that are shown as software modules and/orcomputer applications. The gesture-capture driver 1224 is representativeof software that is used to provide an interface with a deviceconfigured to capture a gesture, such as a touchscreen, track pad,camera, and so on. Alternatively or in addition, the interfaceapplication 1222 and the gesture-capture driver 1224 can be implementedas hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Inaddition, computer readable media 1214 can include a web platform 1225a, a gesture module 1225 b, and a video messaging application 1225 cthat functions as described above.

Device 1200 also includes an audio and/or video input-output system 1226that provides audio data to an audio system 1228 and/or provides videodata to a display system 1230. The audio system 1228 and/or the displaysystem 1230 can include any devices that process, display, and/orotherwise render audio, video, and image data. Video signals and audiosignals can be communicated from device 1200 to an audio device and/orto a display device via an RF (radio frequency) link, S-video link,composite video link, component video link, DVI (digital videointerface), analog audio connection, or other similar communicationlink. In an embodiment, the audio system 1228 and/or the display system1230 are implemented as external components to device 1200.Alternatively, the audio system 1228 and/or the display system 1230 areimplemented as integrated components of example device 1200.

CONCLUSION

Various embodiments enable a video messaging experience which permitsthe exchange of short video messages in an asynchronous manner. Thevideo messaging experience preserves the video intimacy and experienceof synchronous-type video communications, while at the same timeprovides the convenience of SMS-type message exchange.

The video messaging experience is provided by a video messagingapplication which, in at least some embodiments, enables a short videomessage to be recorded and for a single action to be utilized to stopthe recording and send the short video message to one or more intendedrecipients.

Various embodiments provide an ability to visually annotate, in aplurality of video message conversations, a respective status of eachvideo message conversation in the plurality of video messageconversations. In some cases, a video message conversation can berepresented using a thumbnail video image. Some embodiments generate thethumbnail video image based, at least in part, on a most recentlyreceived video clip in the respective video message conversation.

Yet other embodiments enable a particular camera mode, either frontcamera mode or rear camera mode, to be automatically selected inaccordance with a user's action.

Other embodiments enable portions of video message conversations to beplayed back in an interconnected fashion. Specifically, a filmstrip isprovided as part of a user interface. The filmstrip includes a videorepresentation, e.g. a thumbnail image, associated with each short videomessage in a video message conversation. Selection of a particular videorepresentation were result in the video message conversation beingplayed back, from that point, in a continuous fashion which includes theother short video messages that serially follow the selected videorepresentation.

Although the embodiments have been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the embodiments defined in the appended claims are not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaimed embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving at least one shortvideo message associated with a video message conversation from at leastone participant in the video message conversation; generating arepresentation of the video message conversation based, at least inpart, on the at least one short video message, the representationgenerated based on a viewing status associated with the video messageconversation indicating that the video message conversation has unviewedcontent, and the representation being generated as a video clip composedof multiple frames from the at least one short video message; displayingthe representation of the video message conversation; and visuallyannotating the representation of the video message conversation based,at least in part, on the viewing status associated with the videomessage conversation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the visualannotation is further based on whether the at least one participant hascontact information stored in an address book associated with areceiving user.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determiningthe at least one viewing status based, at least in part, on whether thevideo message conversation has unviewed content.
 4. The method of claim3 further comprising: responsive to determining that all video contentassociated with the video message conversation has been viewed, changingthe representation of the video message conversation to a still frame.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying further comprises:determining a location to display the representation based, at least inpart, on whether the video message conversation has unviewed content. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein the video message conversation comprisesthree or more participants.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein themultiple frames from the at least one short video message are selectedby recognizing a facial image in the multiple frames and extracting orcopying the multiple frames in response to recognizing the facial image.8. One or more computer readable storage media embodying computerreadable instructions which, when executed, perform operationscomprising: creating multiple video message conversations associatedwith a particular participant; generating a respective representationfor each of the video message conversations, each respectiverepresentation being based, at least in part, on at least one respectiveviewing status of the respective video message conversation, saidgenerating including: determining that a respective video messageconversation of the multiple video conversations has unviewed content;and responsive to determining the respective video message conversationhas unviewed content, generating a representation of the respectivevideo message conversation as a video clip composed of multiple framesfrom the unviewed content; displaying a summary view of the multiplevideo messages conversations which includes at least some of therespective representations; and visually annotating each displayedrepresentation based, at least in part, on one or more additionalrespective statuses associated with the respective video messageconversation.
 9. The one or more computer readable storage media ofclaim 8, wherein the generating further comprises: responsive todetermining that all video content associated with the respective videomessage conversation has been viewed, generating a still image as therespective representation.
 10. The one or more computer readable storagemedia of claim 9 further comprising: automatically playing back thevideo clip from the unviewed content when displaying the summary view.11. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 9, whereincontent associated with a video message conversation comprises at leastone of: a short video message; or a short video clip.
 12. The one ormore computer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the creatingfurther comprises: creating at least one video message conversationresponsive to receiving initiation data from a second participant in thevideo message conversation.
 13. The one or more computer readablestorage media of claim 8, wherein visually annotating each respectiverepresentation further comprises superimposing one or more respectiveannotations over each respective representation.
 14. The one or morecomputer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein displaying at leastsome of the respective representations further comprises displaying theat least some respective representations in an order based, at least inpart, on which content in the multiple video message conversations wasmost recently received.
 15. The one or more computer readable storagemedia of claim 8, wherein the multiple frames from the unviewed contentare selected from the representation by recognizing a facial image inthe multiple frames and extracting or copying the multiple frames inresponse to recognizing the facial image.
 16. A computing devicecomprising: one or more processors; one or more computer-readablestorage media embodying executable instructions which, responsive toexecution by the one or more processors, perform operations comprising:creating multiple video message conversations associated with aparticular participant; generating a respective representation of eachvideo message conversation in the multiple video message conversations,a representation for a particular video message conversation generatedbased on a viewing status associated with the particular video messageconversation indicating that the particular video message conversationhas unviewed content, and the representation being generated as a videoclip composed of multiple frames from the unviewed content; displayingat least some of the respective representations; and superimposing anannotation over each displayed respective representation to convey atleast one status associated with the particular video messageconversation.
 17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein theparticular video message conversation has a status of being unviewed bythe particular participant.
 18. The computing device of claim 16,wherein the instructions further perform operations comprising sendingand receiving short video messages to at least one other participant ineach video message conversation in the multiple video messageconversations.
 19. The computing device of claim 16, wherein theinstructions further perform operations comprising annotating eachdisplayed respective representation by superimposing a respective textstring on the respective representation, the respective stringconfigured to convey the at least one status.
 20. The computing deviceof claim 16, wherein the multiple frames from the unviewed content areselected from the representation by recognizing a facial image in themultiple frames and extracting or copying the multiple frames inresponse to recognizing the facial image.